BURLINGTON, VT -- The University of Delaware men’s basketball team jumped out to a 28-point lead over the University of Vermont and held off a second-half Catamounts rally to post a 71-60 non-conference victory Wednesday night at Patrick Gymnasium.

The Blue Hens, who improved to 3-6 on the season, snapped a two-game losing streak and bounced back from a 33-point loss Sunday at Central Connecticut. The Catamounts fell to 3-7 on the season and had their six-game home winning streak snapped.

Brian Johnson (at right) led Delaware with 17 points, thanks to 10 of 10 shooting from the free throw line, and dished out a game-high eight assists for the Blue Hens. Herb Courtney added 12 points and eight rebounds to become the 27th player in UD history to reach the 500-rebound plateau, while Alphonso Dawson chipped in 11 points. Marc Egerson tied for the team lead with eight rebounds and also scored eight points in the balanced Blue Hen attack, while Edwin Santiago contributed nine points off the bench.

Vermont junior Mike Trimboli, who entered the game averaging 20.6 points per contest, finished with a team-high 18 points, all in the second half to lead the Catamounts. Marqus Blakely returned to the Vermont lineup after missing two games with a foot injury to score 15 points and pull down a team-best seven rebounds.

UD jumped out to an early 13-4 lead, as a three-pointer by Edwin Santiago gave Delaware a nine-point advantage at the 13:52 mark. A three-pointer by Keith Cieplicki cut the Blue Hen lead to 23-15 with 4:08 left in the half, but Delaware closed the period on a 10-0 spurt to take a 33-15 advantage into the half. The Blue Hens, who allowed 50 first-half points Sunday at Central Connecticut, gave up just 15 to the Catamounts as Delaware led the entire period.

The Blue Hens then scored the first six points of the second half, as Egerson went the length of the court and converted a layup to make it a 39-15 game with 18:26 remaining. Trimboli ended the 16-0 Blue Hen run with a three-pointer, but Johnson found Jim Ledsome for a dunk and Egerson drained a three-pointer in transition to put Delaware ahead 44-18 with 15:30 to play.

Delaware’s lead grew to as much as 28 points at 51-23 with 12:39 left on a three-pointer by Dawson. The Catamounts made a run, scoring 13 consecutive points to pull within 52-38 with 10:11 remaining after a three-pointer by Trimboli. But Brian Johnson ended the spurt with a three-pointer to put the Blue Hens back up 17 at the 8:06 mark.

However Vermont countered with seven straight points to get within 55-45 before Johnson nailed two free throws with 4:15 to play to increase the UD lead to 12 points. Following Johnson’s three-pointer, UD did not hit another field goal but went 16 of 20 from the foul line down the stretch to ice the win.

The Blue Hens held a 33-30 rebounding advantage, the first time this season Delaware won the rebounding battle. UD won despite 28 turnovers, including 10 by Egerson, but also forced the Catamounts into 23 turnovers. Delaware shot a season-high 54.1 percent from the field and went 26 of 32 from the charity stripe to win its second game in its last 18 non-conference road contests.

“We needed to get a win and to play better basketball, and that’s what we did tonight,” said Delaware second-year head coach Monté Ross. “We played with a chip on our shoulder, and played really good defense tonight.”

Delaware returns home Saturday to host Boston University at the Bob Carpenter Center at 7 p.m.

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